Heurtebise from Orphée + Paul Celan Reads Japanese


  • Francois Perier as Heurtebise from Orphée

    French actor famed for his role as Heurtebise in Orphée, who was a friend of Jean-Paul Sartre
    Ten years later, Perier reappeared as Heurtebise in Cocteau’s valedictory ciné-poem The Testament of Orpheus (1960), in which the dark angel compares a poet to “a sleeping invalid, with neither arms nor legs, who dreams that he runs and gestures”.

    Testament of Orpheus full film (youtube)

  • Paul Celan Nov 23 1920

    Celan is an anagram of the Romanian spelling of his surname, Ancel.

    Paul Celan (1920-1970) was born in Romania to Jewish parents. His parents were deported and eventually died in the Nazi labor camps, and he was interned for eighteen months before escaping to the Red Army. He ultimately settled in Paris in 1948 to study German philology and literature. He published seven books of poetry and numerous translations during his lifetime. (via )

    He was a prolific translater.. see the list of poets he translated .. via wiki.

    Todesfuge
    Previous Post (see a video of him reciting Todesfuge.. powerful & moving)

  • Paul Celan –Nelly Sachs Correspondence

  • Paul Celan reads Corona (Youtube)

  • Celan Reads Japanese.

    Celan’s words are not containers, they are openings. I go through the opening in the gate each time I read them. The ideogram to open 開 appears in this book as well, in the crucial last line of the poem Ein Körnchen Sands {‘A Grain of Sand’}:

    und ich schweb dir voraus als ein Blatt,
    das weiß, wo die Tore sich auftun.

    and I waft before you, a leaf
    that knows where the gates will open